This invention relates to a therapeutic infant bed for assisting the infant in achieving a smooth transition from the womb while reducing the trauma of the birth experience and contributing to the infant's adaptation to a totally new environment. More particularly, it is related to an therapeutic infant hospital bed unit adapted to prevent infant apnea in premature infants which comprises a hammock-forming sheet of material having one soft tactile surface; a support structure adapted to sit on a planar surface and having raised, spaced end members defining an open space therebetween; means for horizontally suspending the hammock-forming sheet of material with the one surface facing up between the end members within the open space and above a surface upon which the support structure is sitting to form a hammock having spaced head and foot ends and spaced sides between which an infant can be placed; and rocking means operably attached to the support structure for supporting the support structure on a planar surface and for rocking the support structure along a line between the head and the foot ends.
In recent years, various psychological studies have shown that the environment and treatment of an infant in the days and months following birth can and do have a major psychological effect in later years of life. In the womb, a fetus has an intimate symbiotic relationship with the mother; it generally becomes increasingly aware of various sensory stimuli as it develops, but particularly of sounds, touch, movement and its enveloping space. This enriched environment in the womb provides and offers the fetus both a feeling of security and considerable tactile kinesthetic stimulation.
At birth, the rich intrauterine environment is suddenly replaced with a whole new world of sensation. The gamut of stimuli given the fetus before birth suddenly stops. Recent investigations indicate that kinesthetic stimuli such as touching, movement, sound, and definition of space, stimuli provided by rocking and cuddling, result in impulses in the infant's nervous system that are directed to the cerebellum to stimulate its development, a process that goes on for at least the first two years of a child's life. Since the cerebellum appears to be the only part of the brain in which brain cell multiplication continues long after birth, this cerebellar stimulation has been shown to be of profound importance in the development of the whole person. Kinesthetic stimulation of the infant, therefore, well may be of primary importance; yet, modern baby care practices often prevent just such stimulation. Indeed, many of the products available to parents today are designed to free parents from activities which would provide kinesthetic stimulation for the infant.
As described in my above-referenced, co-pending patent applications, the profound influence of the primal sound and vibration of the heartbeat has been proven to enhance the infant's entire physical and emotional development. Further described therein is the fact that tactile stimulation appears to initiate all innate infant reflexes. Touch is the infant's number one teacher. Not only does it help the infant develop emotional security; but, it actually appears to also assist the body in development of the brain and nervous system. For this reason, actions such as holding the infant, massaging the infant, and providing the infant with different textures to touch are vitally important. Tactile stimulation also seems to have a calming effect on the infant and to assist the infant in organizing its sensory systems, called sensory integration. My prior applications also discuss the fact that the proper development of the motor, joint and muscle system, as well as the vestibular system, requires space identification and movement on the part of the infant. Providing the infant with an environment which resists, but yields, to its own initiated movement, allows the infant to be involved in his own muscular and skeletal system development.
An additional consideration in the overall area of concern is the incidence of infant apnea with premature infants while in the hospital environment. Particularly in problem situations such as those where the mother consumed drugs during her pregnancy, there is no presently available non-drug oriented calming technique to sooth the infant.
The normal hospital bassinette or isolette provided for an infant in the days following birth offer little if any of the necessary and therapeutic stimuli discussed above--and do nothing beneficial with respect to the prevention and relief of infant apnea, and similar problems, mentioned above. For example, the typical hospital bassinette is simply a basin of clear plastic holding a firm mattress pad. A newborn infant, wrapped in a blanket, is placed on that pad, the clear sides of the bassinette offering attending nurses an unobstructed view of the infant. This arrangement, while beneficial for infant observation, is obviously far different from the rich intrauterine environment described above and creates an enormous sensory deprivation for the infant. A similar problem exists in the case of the apnea-prone premature infant which is, typically, laid on the firm mattress of the isolette without the benefit of the cuddling or wrapping blanket, because of the temperature-controlled environment therein.
Wherefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an infant hospital bed unit to be employed immediately following birth to provide an enriched environment directed to the infant's need for continuing positive input into his delicate sensory system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an infant hospital bed unit having therapeutic benefits to, primarily, premature infants who are apnea-prone.